How Can You Sleep at Night?

Candy Crowley, a CNN anchor, interviewed former President George W. Bush recently. The interview was broadcast on November 14, 2010 and coincides with the release of President Bush’s recently published memoir, “Decision Points.”

The interview was conducted in two segments: One with President Bush and his brother Jeb; the other with President Bush alone. The tone of the two segments is decidedly different. The segment with the two brothers is playful and upbeat. The segment with the President alone is somber and confrontational.

Ms. Crowley perfectly captures the desire for vengeance within the political forces still arrayed against the former President. She asked him about “taking his eye off the ball” and failing to properly pursue the fight in Afghanistan. She asked why no Republican was held accountable for Abu Ghraib and why Republicans were not punished for failing to find significant weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

She finished by asking President Bush how he could still sleep at night.

OK, I may be overstating the exact content of Ms. Crowley’s questioning. Like Keith Olbermann, she is sophisticated in her approach, and delivers careful impressions with her words.

Ms. Crowley used the devise of “The Banning Letter” to represent the pain felt by those who have lost loved ones in combat. It is akin to our modern-day Cindy Sheehan story. Mr. Banning had lost a son in the Korean War, and he sent a letter to President Truman in which he returned his son’s Purple Heart and wished that President Truman’s daughter could meet the same fate as his son.

The letter is tough, but it dramatically represents a parent’s anguish. Ms. Crowley’s question was similarly harsh. She asked, “I’m interested in how those who are so angry, and we understand their anger, how these affected you.”

She aligns herself with those whose anger she understands, and registers an accusatory tone. We can read the transcript to see her actual words, but what we hear is, “You b&*%*#d! How can you still sleep at night?”

Our anti-Republican culture approves.

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